2019 Bajaj Dominar 400 Spotted Testing

The power cruiser gets upside-down forks and a more aggressively designed twin-outlet exhaust

Launched in December 2016, Bajaj’s flagship power cruiser, the Dominar, remained more or less unchanged in the following year’s iteration apart from a subtle visual facelift. Even though it offered excellent value for money compared to its competitors, the motorcycle didn’t exactly set the sales chart on fire despite aggressive marketing like the ‘Haathi Mat Paalo’ campaign. To give you a fair idea about its market performance, the Pune-based bikemaker sold only 1381 Dominars in July whereas its arch rival, Royal Enfield, dispatched 6154 units of the Thunderbird 350 in the same month. That translates into a whopping 345.6 per cent more sales than the Dominar’s figure.

To make the motorcycle more competitive, Bajaj seems to be working on a better-equipped model for the year 2019. Going by the spy shots, the biggest change is the presence of inverted forks up front. It is possible that the forks have been lifted off the KTM 250 Duke. With this addition the motorcycle is expected to get more expensive by around Rs 10,000-15,000 over the current ex-showroom Delhi price of Rs 1,62,074 for the dual-channel ABS version. However, if Bajaj goes all out and offers the more advanced open cartridge forks from the KTM 390 Duke, expect the motorcycle to get a lot costlier.

The front disc has been shifted to the left side, a la the KTM 390 Duke. The fender sees minor graphic changes, and so does the side panels of the fuel tank and engine cowl. The crash guard design also seems to be slightly different than what’s shown in in the current-gen model on Bajaj Auto’s official site.

Another major change is the dual-exit exhaust pipes which look a lot more modern than the one on the current bike. The alloy wheels in the test mule also seem to be the previous year’s black and brushed steel-finished units rather than the gold-finished ones in the present version. Other than these changes, the rear section seems to be unchanged. Tyres are also MRF REV-Z units. The new suspension setup and the exhaust are likely to make the motorcycle more responsive in the twisties and sound better.

The engine is likely to be BS-VI compliant considering the fact that by 2020 India will directly skip BSV norms and jump straight to BSVI. The current SOHC 373.3cc single-cylinder liquid-cooled fuel-injected motor pumps out 35PS and 35Nm at 8500rpm and 6500rpm respectively. If Bajaj offers the same motor with a DOHC configuration, the motorcycle is expected to be relatively briskier when it comes to climbing the revs.

There’s no official word on the details of the motorcycle from Bajaj yet, so stay tuned!

Image credit: Rushlane.com